Grove



(No Model.) 7

J. R. HARGROVE.

FURNITURE GASTZER.

Patented Sept. 21, 1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

JOHN ROBERTJIARGROVE, OF SPARKBROOK, COUNTY OF WORCESTER,

' ENGLAND.

FURNlTURE-CASTER.

SP CI C forming part of Letters Patent No. 349,588, dated September 21,1886.

Application filed Julyfil, 188d. Serial No.208,582. (No model.) Patented in England August 13, 1885, No. 9,639; in France June 22, 1886, No. 164,170; in Belgium June 23, 1583, No. 54,370, and in Germany July 1, 1836, No. 4,692.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, JOHN ROBERT HAR- GROVE, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Alfred Street, Sparkbrook, in

1886, and numbered 4,692,) of which the following is a specification.

My invent-ion has relation to casters of that class generally known as furniture-casters,

and has for its object to provide a caster which shall be of such a construction as to more perfectly and easily operate when in position upon an article of furniture than the casters now in use.

My invention consists in the construction, combination, and arrangements of parts, as more fully described hereinafter, and specifically claimed.

I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawings the manner in which the same is to be performed.

Figure 1 represents in side elevation, and Fig. 2 in vertical section, a'furniture-caster made according to my invention. Fig. 3 shows a plan of the under side of the bottom of the socket or plate part of the caster. This view exhibits the position and arrangement of the balls or spheres which are interposed between the bottom of the caster proper and the platform-plate carried by the horn. The positions of the balls are so arranged that if a vertical line be extended upward from the axle of the roller it will intersect either one or other of the anti-friction balls. Fig. 4 represents a plan of the horn-plate, showing the groove or race wherein the spheres roll. Fig. 5 shows a vertical section of the caster, Fig. 1, but taken at right angles to that of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 shows the principal parts of the caster separately, and Fig. 7 represents a plan of the cage-plate for keeping the balls at determinate distances apart.

The same letters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several figures of the drawings.

a. is the socket of the caster.

a? is an annular flange or ring on the bottom of the socket, and a is an annular groove or race made in the under side of the bottom at a is a depending peg proceeding downward from the under side, a", of the socket a.

. I) are rollers or spheres interposed between the top of the horn-plate c of the horn c and the under side of the bottom.

c is an annular groove on the top face of the hornplate, and c is a shoulder or reduced part, which fits into the sunken or socket-like part formed by the flanges a of the caster-socket a,

thereby giving an extended bearing to the horn, or the plate of the horn which carries the weight and excludes dust or other foreign matter from gaining access to the working parts. I

c is an axial hole made in the axis or midd le of the horn-plate, through which the peg w passes.

Z is a washer, and c is a linchpin passing transversely through and near the end of the peg a, which said linchpin secures and holds the parts together.

f is a ball, cage, or plate having openings wherein the balls or spheres are confined and rotate.

Instead of employing the linehpin e for connecting the parts together, the end of the peg may be wormed, upon which a nut may be screwed; or the said end may be riveted or expanded so as to form a head. I

By confining the spheres or balls within the openings f of the plate f, three or other limited number of balls are sufficient to constitute the bearing-surface between the fixed socket and the movable horn-plate.

g is the bowl or wheel of the caster, and h is the axle secured to the lower end of the horn, and upon which the bowl 9 turns.

By constructing casters as described the wheel or bowl admits of being brought into a i more central position or more in a direct line with the axis of the caster than has heretofore been accomplished, in consequence of inter posing between the fixed and movable parts anti-friction or rolling surfaces in such positions that an extended bearing-surface is obtained, which gives rigidity, and allows the horn and bowl to move around its central peg with great freedon1,\vithont any tendency to bear upon the sides of the peg, which is common in casters Where the horn rotates around a central axis.

Although I have represented asocket-eastcr, yet my invention is equally applicable to plate and other forms of casters, in which ahorn is required to move around a central pivot or axis in changing the direction of the bowl or wheel when. an article of furniture to which the said caster is applied is required to be moved.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters latent In a furniturc-easier, the combination, with the socket a, having the central depending peg, a the depending circumferential flange a and the concave annular groove (0*, of the hornplate 0 carrying the caster-wheel 9, having the central opening, 0", the shoulder or offset 0, and the concave annular groove 0, the antifriction spheres I), located in the grooves a 0 and the guide-platef, having radial kerfs f, embracing said spheres, the casterwheel 9 being arranged, substantially as described, in vertical line with one of the balls or one side of the grooves a" c, as and for the purpose set forth.

Signed this 1st day of July, 1886.

JOHN ROBERT HARGROVE. [L s] \Vituesses HENRY SKERRETT, l\IILES E. HUGHES,

Both of Birminglumz. 

